The Land Of Broken Hearts
by ShadowFoxMoon
Summary: Alice in the Country of Hearts/Clover X INU Kagome arrives unexpectedly in Wonderland, a place filled with many interesting people who have no heart, literally, and some figuratively. All of which are extremely attractive, one might add. How is she supposed to find her way back home, when everyone there wants a piece of her heart? Julius/Kagome/Gray
1. Sweet Dreams

Unbeta-ed

After I bought the manga a few months ago, I immediately fell in love with Julius Monrey, but was sad when I didn't see many stories out there with him. This idea just wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to write it. My hope is to have this spark new interest in this manga/game Alice in the country of Hearts and/or Clover. Or whichever Country they have out by the time this story is posted and read. (I think there's four at this point, Hearts/Clover/Diamond/Joker)

I was debating on having this as just a one-shot / two-shot in my oneshot collection, but I decided to make it a multiple chapter story instead.

_**Story**_

She was falling backwards, looking towards the clear blue sky above her as the opening became smaller and smaller the further she fell. Hope filled in her eyes.

The flash of a white hair and a sliver blade caused her eyes to go wide with fear. Blood sprayed forth, tainting the blue sky in its red ink. Drops of the red iron splashed on her cheek and tears gushed from her eyes.

"**NO!"** She screamed out, almost bursting her lungs as she reached for him in a vain attempt.

The tears continued to stream down her face even after the familiar magic of the well surrounded her as she was falling in the blackness. She clamped her eyes shut, and sobbed in her hands, her heart breaking in two.

No…

It wasn't until several moments of her whaling filled the empty well, that she realized she was still falling. She lowered her hands, glancing around with uncertainty. She checked with her blurry vision, then paused and looked again. She rubbed her eyes, to clear them of the tears to help her see better, but when she scanned around her, it was still the same sight.

Normal household objects where floating in the air around her as she fell through nothingness…

"This hasn't happened before." She whispered, her despair distracted momentarily by her confusion. What is going on?

_You should go to sleep… You're very tired…_

The deep and calm voice echoed, and she tried to turn and see where the source of the voice was coming from, yet she couldn't see anything but darkness and oddities. In her twisting and turning, she somehow flipped, and was now falling forward, and she noticed that all the objects were not falling down with her, but upwards instead.

_You should go to sleep._

The voice called to her again, and she growled.

_You're very tired._

"I'm not—Oomph!" She gave a small grunt when she landed harshly on a large bed.

The vibration from her hit caused the whole frame and mattress to wobble on impact, before it shifted, adjusting to the new weight, and became straight once more. Yet Kagome just stayed on her hands and knees, staring at the red satin cover that was below her, before glancing at the dark wooded headboard and frame.

What is-? She released a large yawn, her eyes suddenly feeling heavy.

"You should go to sleep." Kagome glanced up, and saw a man standing on the end of the bed frame, as if he weighted nothing. His outfit was strange, and his hat, along with his extremely pointed shoes with bells placed at the end of them suggested he was some kind of jester.

"Who are…?" She felt her mind become a haze, as she moved so that she was sitting on her rump, and rubbing her eyes.

"You're _very_ tired…"

She nodded her head in agreement at his words. He smiled a sad smile, as he looked at her with his right eye, his left covered by an eye patch. She slowly crawled to the head of the bed, and got under the covers.

"You are thirsty…" He floated over the bed, towards her, and his hand reached out to her, in it was a pretty glass vial, with a heart shaped stopper. "You should drink this."

She licked her suddenly dry lips, and her throat felt parched. She reached out and took the offered drink from him, and without hesitation popped the top, drinking the containments inside of it. Her thirst being quenched, she reached it back out for him to take.

He just shook his head, the bells at the ends of his hat jingled at the movement, and he held up his hand. "Keep it. It's precious to you."

She held the glass container up to in the center of her chest protectively. "Thank you…" He just continued to smile sadly at her, and she laid down on the bed, resting her head on the comfortable pillow. "I should go to sleep…" She mumbled to herself as she closed her extremely heavy eyelids. "I'm very tired…"

Joker grabbed the edge of the covers, pulling them up and tucking the woman in. Seeing a blemish on her otherwise perfectly pale features, he reached out with his gloved hand, and wiped away the red blotch of blood from her cheek.

And removing all the bad memories that came with it…

"Sweet dreams, Kagome."

* * *

Hey guys, started this new story! I know I already have a lot, but please don't kill me! This has been bugging me for a long time, and I just have to get it off of my chest. Since I've been working on my bleach story, **Spirit's Revenge**, I've been able to get back into my writing** spirit **again. (lol, bad pun there, sorry. XD) So I thought I would expand and work on this as well.

There's a few other stories I have to update too, hopefully I'll get to them soon. This story is naturally going to have short chapters, so I might update this one faster than the others that have way more length in them.

Please review, tell me what you think! I went with Joker instead, because a lot of people use Peter White, I even read a nightmare one… That was good. So I thought I would make a fresh new look and have Joker be the one who brought her to Wonderland! See you guys in my next post, which might be soon~!


	2. Awake

Something was wrong.

She snapped her eyes open, clutching the silk red covers in her iron tight grip as she inhaled a large breath of air in shock. "I…" Her throat was cracked and dry, and she almost flinched at the sound.

What happened?

She couldn't quite register what was going on inside of her mind, as the haze of her memories was nothing but a blur to her. She slowly pushed herself up, her weak arms shaking as they held her up. She crawled over to the edge, almost falling out of the bed, but she caught herself just in time.

She casted her legs over the side of the bed, before she jumped off and landed on her wobbly feet. Taking her first few steps was hard, as she staggered a few feet, and she was forced to place her hand against the tree beside her for support, as the world seemed to spin around her—

She positioned her hand over her mouth, but the queasiness overpowered her and she knew what was going to happen next—

"!" The remnants of the food she last consumed spewed out of her mouth, as she painted the grass beneath her with her vomit. All traces of the meal now nothing but chunks and thick paste of nastiness. "Ughh…" She whipped her mouth with the back of her hand, while the other still was placed against the tree, feeling slightly better. When she noticed she was holding something tightly in her grasp, she looked at the vial with a questioning glance.

She popped the heart-shape lid, and tilted the vial upside down above her gaping mouth, wishing to expel the horrible aftertaste that was left rotting on her tongue—She groan when nothing came out and she placed the lid back onto the glass container. She was about to throw the empty bottle over her shoulder, but she paused.

In her blurred mind, something told her to hang on to it… It was precious to her…

She held the glass vial up to her chest protectively, squeezing it so tightly, her knuckles almost turned ghostly white. She then staggered onward on her noodle-like lower limbs, her mind filled with emptiness as she wandered the forest with no real distention or handle on the world around her.

* * *

"How…?" The word escaped her dry and cracked lips as she stared out at the view before her. How did she get here? She glanced around, unsure how she managed to get on top of a tower. She looked at all of the odd building surrounding her from her high perch, and her head throbbed with pain. "…What?" She stumbled slightly, unable to even keep her balance standing still. "Whoa." She called out in surprise when she almost slipped off of the edge. She looked down, and upon seeing the ground so far below her she… _giggled_.

She wasn't sure why, but she found it to be _extremely_ funny…

She placed her hand onto her scalp, feeling light-headed.

Julius Monrey was enjoying the few moments of peace he had to himself. It was a rare time like this, where he could take a few minutes away from his work, and so he decided to spend it gazing at the stars from his favorite spot at the top of the tower. When he reached the top of the stairs, he paused when he noticed that he was not alone.

"Hey!" He shouted towards the woman who was standing at the edge. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he walked up to her, feeling a little irate at the intrusion into his home. "Leave!" She turned towards him, and he noticed her movements were _off_, almost unstable— His eyes widened when he saw her foot slip and he instinctively reacted, grabbing hold of her hand. He pulled her towards him, and he grunted when she collided into his chest. "I told you to leave, not kill yourself." He mumbled as he held the girl against his body, looking down at the ground with dread—He paused when he heard her…_ giggle_?

He looked down, just as she glanced up, and he felt something in him stir when his own dark blue orbs stared into her crystal ones.

"This feeling... " In that moment, Julius knew that this girl was an outsider.

"I'm very tired…" The girl mumbled, before she collapsed in his arms. Unsure of what to really do, he did the only thing he could think of, and he placed his arm beneath her knees, while the other supported her back, and picked up the small woman. She hummed in delight and rested her head against his chest. "I should go to sleep."

"No, you shouldn't." Yet his words were unheard, for the woman had already fallen asleep in his arms.

He released a heavy sigh, before he shook his head, knowing that he couldn't leave the defenseless girl alone outside, and turned around, walking back into the tower.

So much for his moment of peace…

* * *

Another update so fast! I know XD lol. But the chapter is also very short too. Most of them will be until further on into the story.


	3. Liar

Her body felt heavy, and her eyes felt heavier, yet she forced herself to open them with a strained groan in discomfort as her mind's fog was clearing. She blinked several times, before she sighed and tucked the soft covers under her chin and she curled her legs closer to her chest.

Where was she?

She glanced around from her fetal position, yet she couldn't see anything from the bed, except for the fact that the ceiling was hovering closer than what she was used to. She spotted the ladder sticking out from the side of the bed, and she realized that she must be on the top of a bunk-bed of some sort.

She tried to get her hazed brain moving, to will the images of what occurred to her to reappear.

She remembered… _something_- and then… _something_ was falling and—_something_ felt…weird?

She sighed, unable to recall anything but fragments of darkness. Well, at least one thing was for certain: _Something_ happened.

She decided that the only way to find out, was to leave the comfortable bed and look. So she did just that, and crawled to the ladder. She swung her legs over the side, and turned her body, slowly going down the old wooden climbing tool one barefooted step at a time.

When her feet touched the hardwood floors, she shivered at the cooling sensation that crawled up her legs—

"Finally awake?" Her body tensed up at the unfamiliar voice, and she glanced over her shoulder.

She saw a man sitting behind a counter placed directly beside her, working diligently without even stopping to look at her. He seemed rather stern and serious in Kagome's opinion as she watched him work, the square framed glasses resting on his nose made him appear more professional and she couldn't help but raise a single eyebrow towards the man.

He had long dark-blue hair, tied at the nape of his neck, yet several long strands were hanging loose and draped over his shoulder as he was leaned over the counter, working on something circular within his palm, a screwdriver placed in his other hand. He had on a long black coat with gold-bronze designs, a dark yellow vest beneath it, and black pants. What was the strangest of all about the man was the fact that she could see several clocks of different sizes worn on the man. He wore as a tie, and a smaller one hanging from his left lobe.

"I am Julius Monrey." He was first to introduce himself, yet he still did not get distracted from his work. "I am the keeper of the clock tower, which is where you're currently at." More clocks? She glanced at the object in his hand. She was betting that the thing he was working on was probably a clock as well.

"My name is Kagome, Kagome Higurashi." If he was kind enough to introduce himself, it would be rude of her not to tell him her name.

"Very well, Kagome Higurashi, who brought you here?" He asked.

"I don't know." She shrugged. This caught his attention enough for him to pause in his fiddling, and look over towards her.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" As if her words somehow couldn't comprehend in his mind.

She shrugged a second time. "I don't know." She repeated. Not that complicated to understand. "I was hoping you would, this is your place after all, isn't it?"

"I found you alone, trying to kill yourself at the top of my tower; I did not bring you here."

"Trying to kill myself?" She seemed almost appalled by his comment, before brushing it away as if she didn't hear it. "I don't even know where here is." She sighed. "The energy here feels… different." The aura in this world makes her feel slightly on edge—She paused. Did she just say 'world'? She looked down at the ground in thought. Was she in another world?

_You are thirsty…_

Kagome's eyebrows angled together as the image flashed in her mind, and she reached into her pocket, pulling out a pink vial.

_You should drink this…_

"He made me drink this." She mumbled to herself as she stared at the heart shaped top.

"Who?" His dark blue eyes narrowed at the vial. "Was it the rabbit?"

"Rabbit?" She tried to picture the man, but all she could see was a sad smile. She shook her head, feeling it ache whenever she tried to recall the man's face. "I can't remember but-"

_You should go to sleep…You are very tired…_

She could still hear his calm yet sad voice echoing in her head. "He told me: You should go to sleep. You are very tired." She felt herself become suddenly sleepy and she yawned. She placed her hand onto her head and her eyes fell closed—

"Steady yourself." She didn't know she was falling, until she felt his arm hook around her waist, holding her up. She felt dizzy as she looked up, placing her hand onto his chest and her eyes going unfocused. "You were put under hypnosis. It seems you are still under its effect. Try not to remember it, or you might fall back asleep." He had a small look of concern, as he carefully walked her over to the couch that was on the other side of the room. "There are few powerful enough in this world to pull off such an act…"

"Thank you." She mumbled as he helped her to sit down, but she paused. "World?" She repeated the word that was already stirring inside of her mind.

"Yes." He removed his glasses with a sigh. "You are in Wonderland. In the country of hearts, to be more precise." He then mumbled, mostly to himself. "He smuggled her in without my permission...Why?" Is expression turned angry as is lips curled into a snarl. "Blasted Incubus!"

"How do I get home?" Was the only question on Kagome's mind. The facts of how she got into another world, or for what reason, she did not care, because traveling between worlds to her has become the norm. If she got here a certain way she can just go back that same way and—

"It's not that simple." He interrupted her with perfect timing and she looked up at him questionably.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't go home…" He then added. "Not alone, at least." He seemed at odds as he continued to explain. "That is the rule of the game."

"I don't understand." Yet with each word, something in her began to churn.

He's lying…

"It's a rule of the game, that you, as an outsider, participate in." He folded his arms over his chest as he stood before her. "You could have returned home anytime you wanted, but because you drank the liquid in that vial, you must now play the game." He pointed to the glass that she still held in her hand.

No, she has to go home—A image of white hair flashed in her memories and her heart felt constricted—He is waiting for her.

"The point of the game is to go home…" She has to play a game to go home-? This sounds so stupid! She could feel the rage and desperation boiling inside of her. He has to be lying— She needs to see him! He—He—

_A sliver blade-blood— "No!"_

She reached up, holding her chest as a sharp pain stabbed her.

" 'You can't play the game alone' It's a rule that you—"

"**LIAR!" **She shouted at him as she jumped to her feet, her eyes glaring at him.

"?!" His face held utter shock as he stood before her, complete taken off guard by her sudden outburst.

"I have always found my way to him!" She could feel the familiar sting of tears threating to swell in her eyes. "… Always…" She whispered the last part as she bit her lower lip, wishing that he was there with her.

Julius reached his hand out, as if to touch her and she deflected it, swatting it away as if it were a fly. This seemed to stun the man even more then the scream, and a look of bafflement crossed his features. He looked as if he were about to say something, but she didn't give him a chance, for she took off in a blur, running past him and out of the room.

She ran and ran, and continued running until her bare feet touched dirt, then the soft feel of grass. Tears were streaming down her face, as her heart felt as if it was being ripped in two.

"Why!" She couldn't help but scream out as she placed her hand over her heart, unable to explain the horrible burning in her chest and why she couldn't control her tears. "Why am I crying?!"

She couldn't remember—but the pain was more then she could withstand.

* * *

So!? Tell me what you guys think! XD


	4. Lost and Sick

Kagome was wandering aimlessly around the forest, feeling uncertain. The tears have long since passed, leaving behind dry salty streaks caked onto her cheeks. As she strolled through the trees, she had several memories flow through her mind. All of which had long since passed.

Most of the images revolved around the numerous travels she had with the gang. They would walk through many forests similar to this one countless times. Yet like she mentioned before, all those memories of shard hunting was behind her.

Yet the more she tried to think of it, the more blurry her memories became. It was starting to confuse her, and she felt lost.

"_You can't go home…"_

Julius's voice echoed in her mind, and she could feel the tears threating to return. She wanted to go home, more than anything. She wanted to see everyone again. She was always able to go home before, yet when she heard those words, she felt hopeless. A darkness filled her and the pain in her chest became constricting, making it hard to breath.

She glanced up toward the sky, hoping that looking at the stars would help ease her rattled mind—"Noon?" She couldn't help but question her sanity as she found herself looking at the blue sky. Wasn't it just night a few minutes ago? She glanced around to try and see if something could give an answer to her already baffled thoughts—

Seeing something red out of the corner of her eye caused her to pause in her walk. Her expression fell when she spotted the odd piece of furniture placed in the middle of the forest. She walked over to the bed, and she frowned once she reached it.

She raised her hand, and touched the silk sheet, creating a wrinkle in the once perfectly set bed. Who made the bed? If her memory was correct, she didn't fix the bed before wobbling aimlessly in a daze out of the forest. Then again, her memory has been quite unreliable lately…

She sighed, as she stared at the red sheets, the color so resembling a certain fire-rat robe, and a small smile appeared on her face. Then her eyes turned dimmer, mirroring her thoughts as they too, turned dark: The color also resembled the shade of freshly spilt blood.

_Blood sprayed forth, tainting the blue sky in its red ink—_

"Ugh!" She groaned in pain, one hand reaching for her throbbing head, while the other was placed onto her breaking heart. "I have to get back because…" _"No!" _Tears started to fill her eyes unconsciously. "Because…" Her eyes clamped shut as the pounding in her brain caused her mind to go blank. "Because I…" The more she tried to concentrate, the more the pain continued, and her mind became filled with empty areas. Yet the more the pain increased, the tears where disappearing. "I … can't… remember."

She sighed, as she removed her hands from her head and heart, and placing them back onto the bed. She has to go home, something in her gut, no, in her _heart _was telling her it was urgent, but she couldn't remember why…

* * *

Julius Monrey was lost in thought, on the first floor of the clock tower. As he was thinking, his legs would move, and when he found himself about to walk into the wall, he turned back around and started walking in the other direction. One would call this 'pacing' but Julius would have denied it, for one only paces when one is upset or worried—Julius was not worried, he had no real reason to be worried—about what? The outsider running off in the middle of the night, alone? Why does it matter? He shouldn't care. He doesn't care, therefore he wasn't worried, which means that the keeper of the clock tower is not currently pacing.

He was just walking around his property, in the same area, over and over again— Definitely_ not_ pacing…

He wasn't even sure why he was there. After the girl left his office, he went back to work, like usual, but he couldn't concentrate. All he could think about was the upset look on her face, her crystal blue eyes starting to fill with liquid, as she called him a liar. Next thing he knew he was here pacing—He stopped in his tracks a frown appearing on his face.

_Not_ pacing…

In fact, he was supposed to be in his room, working. "That's right." He shook his head. "I _**am**_ working. Right now." In that moment Julius turned and started walking towards the stairs to go back to his office.

"I came back here…?" The voice caused him to freeze and he turned to see the woman who a few time periods ago stormed out. He sighed in relief at seeing she was safe—He blinked, before shaking his head and continuing towards the stairs before she spotted him—"Julius?" He stopped mid-step when she called his name. He turned to face her, and their eyes meet. "Were you waiting here this whole time?" She walked up to him, her hand placed onto her chest in nervousness. He took note of her red eyes, flushed face, and dried streaks on her cheeks. She must have been crying for a long time—"Were you worried about me?" Her expression softened towards him and he felt his cheeks become heated.

"No." He spoke in a stern voice, and turned, walking back up the stairs.

"Thank you." Her words caused him to pause, and he glanced at her over his shoulder. "That is very sweet of you." She smiled, her eyes holding gentleness towards him.

"!" His face became hotter, and his breath hitched in his throat. Yet he never spoke a word, and just turned and walked up the stairs—

"I didn't mean what I said, I was just upset—" Her words made him stop for a third time. "For calling you a liar…" He flinched at hearing the word 'liar' again. "I'm sorry." Her words held a hit of guilt in them, and he knew she was being sincere.

The corner of his lips curved upwards slightly as he glanced at her over his shoulder. "Apology accepted."

With that, he finally walked up the stairs and towards his office without interruption, the girl following in step behind him.

* * *

"And we are right here." Julius pointed in the center of the map, at the clock tower.

Kagome looked at the map with a focused look in her eyes, taking everything in that the man was saying. "So everyone is fighting with each other but the clock tower?"

"This is neutral-." He reached for his cup of coffee, but then paused when it felt light. "Neutral ground." He tipped the cup so he could see inside of it and sighed when he saw it was empty— A small hand was placed over top of his, and he blinked.

"I'll refill it for you." She gently took the cup from him with a kind smile. "Where's the kitchen?" Yet he didn't respond, he was staring at his hand. After a few moments Kagome reached out, placing her hand in front of his face and waving it to catch his attention. "Hello." He quickly snapped back into attention, looking up at her. "The kitchen?"

"Go right, second door on the left." He told her.

She nodded, and started leaving the room. "Alright, I'll be right back."

Several minutes after Kagome left, Julius looked back at his hand, flexing it. He placed his other hand over top of it. When he did, the memory of her delicate touch came back to him, and a splash of pink colored his cheeks.

* * *

"Here you go." Kagome spoke as she placed the cup onto the table in front of him.

"Thank you." He nodded his head, and reached out, taking the cup.

She smiled at him as she sat down, in her hand was her own cup of coffee. "Least I can do, after you were kind enough to tell me so much about this world." She took a sip of the drink and sighed when the hot liquid slid down her throat.

"Yes." The male placed the cup to his lip. "Well I—!" His eyes widened as he choked, before he pulled the cup away from his mouth and released a few struggled coughs.

"You alright?" She paused, looking at him with concern.

"Fine." He raised his hand up. "Fine." He took another sip. When he did his eyebrows twitched and he had a pained expression. "5."

"5?" Kagome repeated as she took another swig of the coffee. "5 what?"

"That's your rating." He said as he placed the cup onto the table.

"For what, my coffee?" She almost laughed. "You're rating my coffee making skills?" This time she did giggle a little.

"I wouldn't laugh." He sighed. "It's base off of a 100 point score…"

"Oh, it was that good?" She was rather proud of herself as she took another drink from her cup—

"No." He shook his head. "The lower the score, the worse it is, 100 being perfect." He explained as he took another sip of the 'horrible' drink by his standers.

She almost spewed her coffee all over the male in surprise. "It wasn't that bad!"

He gave a small snort in objection. "I beg to differ…" He took another sip, and when he did, he flinched, as if drinking it actually gave him physical pain.

"Then next time you fix your own—" Her words were interrupted with a loud roar that echoed throughout the room.

"?" Julius looked up, giving her a puzzled expression. "Hungry?" An amused smirk was on his face as a blush stained her cheeks. He chuckled and stood from his chair. "I'll fix something for you." When she was about to object, he spoke once again. "To repay you for the coffee."

"You mean the coffee you hated?" She huffed.

"I didn't say that I hated it." When he passed by her, he reached out and gave her a comforting pat on the head. "I'm sure you'll do better next time."

"Next time?" Kagome looked up at him questionably. "You mean you want me to fix you another?"

He outwardly flinched. "Later…" He spoke as he was walking away. "Much later." He mumbled to himself.

* * *

Kagome was sitting in her chair by the table, waiting patiently. She offered to help the clockmaker with preparing the food, yet he denied it, so she was forced to stay in his work room and wait. She just sat there, at first twiddling her thumbs and swaying in her seat from side to side. But after a while, her mind went blank and she just stared at a void in the air, as her eyes locked onto a spot on the table, her thoughts wandered the empty spaces of nothing.

She was in a different world, one filled with odd rules and restrictions. From what she learned from Julius there were no demons, but the people here were spilt into two 'groups': The faceless, and the ones with roles.

There were four different areas in the country of hearts: The Castle of Hearts, Hatter's Mansion, the Amusement Park, and the Clock Tower. All areas were separated equally and divided by the forest, yet they fought one another for dominance, the tower being in the center and neutral to the war. Kagome glanced outside of the window, seeing the sky a nice shade of pink, signaling the sun was setting. The time also fluctuated strangely here as well—

A strong aroma of food wafted in her nose and she placed her hand over her mouth, feeling queasy from the smell—A plate was placed in front of her, and the scent became stronger, and she was forced to take a deep breath and try not to barf all over the table and food Julius fixed for her.

A soft smile appeared on her face as she looked up at him. "Thank you."

He just nodded his head, placing his plate down at the table and took his own seat across from her on the small round table.

"I'm starved." Yet as she sat there holding the fork in her hand, looking down at the spaghetti, she felt her stomach churn and she bit her lower lip.

She glanced up, and saw that Julius was already eating his meal. She didn't want to be rude, after all he was kind enough to fix it for her, and began eating hers, _slowly_. She would twirl a few strands of the noodles, and avoiding the thick sauce at all cost, not wanting to upset her stomach any more than it already was. She placed the spaghetti into her mouth, and chewed. She tried to savor the great flavor, but it was quickly overpowered with the taste of bile. She felt her body gag in reflex, but she pushed it back and swallowed, which soon followed by more cartwheels done in her nauseous stomach. She repeated this just a few more times, before she realized that her sickness was not coming from hunger… something was wrong.

Her had was shaking slightly, and she lowered her fork down, placing it onto her plate—

"You say you are starving, yet you haven't touched much of your food." At hearing his voice, she glanced up and saw him watching her.

"I—" She could feel squirming in her throat and she swallowed hard, trying to hold back the reflex to gag. "I'm sorry." She was finally able to choke out. "The food is good…" She wanted to say more, but as she stared at him, her stomach flipped upside down, and she could feel her body turning cold. She saw his usually stoic expression turn into one of concern, seeing that something was wrong. "I feel sick" She placed her onto her swaying head, trying to stop it from spinning.

She wasn't sure when he got up from his chair, but she felt a worried touch rubbing circles onto her back and she closed her eyes. "When was the last time you ate?"

She shook her head, regretting it immediately when doing so made her even dizzier. "I can't remember."

Julius bent down and picked her up bridle-style, lifting her up as if she weighted nothing. She was about to object, but within two steps, thanks to his long legs, he was already by the couch, lying her down onto the soft furniture gently.

"Stay here." He command, before he turned and left her laying there on the couch.

She placed her hand onto her cold stomach and kept her eyes closed, trying not to think about the sour taste in her mouth or how much she wanted to throw up in that moment. Breathe in. She took a large gulp of air and held it for several seconds. Breathe out. She slowly exhaled.

Don't puke. She continued talking to herself, trying to keep her mind from wandering away too far. Don't puke. She felt a cold rag placed onto her forehead and she sighed.

"I just have a few ideas as to the reason for your sickness." His voice was deep and cold like usual, but his tone held something else buried beneath it, that she couldn't point out what it was the time—"It could be the long length since your last meal, the spell that was placed on you, or even just the travel from your world to ours." He sighed, and she felt weight sink in beside her legs as he sat down on the couch with her. "I'm not quite sure, because you are the first outsider that I have seen. I don't believe any others have gotten sick coming here, but everyone is different, and you never know how the body of an outsider could react to the magic when being transported to another world."

"I assure you." She mumbled, feeling slightly better already. "My body is use to traveling worlds and magic." She could feel his confusion and tension from her words, but he didn't question her about it.

"In any case, no matter the cause, the solution is still the same." She felt the large weight beside her disappear as he got up from the couch. "You should stay and rest until your sickness subsides." She felt his warm hand gently placed overtop of hers. She nodded in understanding, and he gave her hand a light squeeze in reassurance, before he removed his hand from hers.

She heard the thumping of his boots onto the wooden floor as he walked away from her. The sound getting softer and softer the further he moved from her, before he heard several noses after that: Shifting, shuffling, twisting, more footsteps, and the door closing. She was left in silence for a long time, before she heard the twisting of the doorknob, followed by his familiar boots hitting the floor as he entered. There were clicks, clanging, tweaks and ticking. The sound of the clockmaker working was the only thing she could hear amidst the otherwise silent room, and oddly enough, it comforted her.

She soon found herself lulled into a deep sleep from the rhythmic sounds of the man hard at work…

* * *

Tada! This chapter is a little longer for you guys. Next chapter is going to move away from the tower, and Kagome is going to meet the rest of the role holders! Oh the excitement! Don't forget to review! I would like to know your guys opinions and if you like it so far or not.


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